GRE作文6分教学博客

tesolchinaUID：2191404

https://bbs.gter.net/thread-1795774-1-1.html
参考答案

According to the director, Buckingham College should commit to building new dorms given the projected enrollment over the next 5 decades, the expected shortage of dorm space. He also argues that new dorms can help students who cannot afford off-campus apartments that have become more expensive in average and attract more prospective students to study at Buckingham.  

The director argues that more dorms should be built to meet the demand of housing among Buckingham students and to recruit more students to join the college.  

tesolchinaUID：2191404

Educational institutions have a responsibility to dissuade students from pursuing fields of study in which they are unlikely to succeed.
Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the claim. In developing and supporting your position, be sure to address the most compelling reasons and/or examples that could be used to challenge your position.

I strongly agree that students should be discouraged from concentrating on a particular major if they do not have the academic preparation or talents to perform well in that area. Following the advice from the schools, students will focus on areas of studies that are more suitable for them and enjoy their school life better. Intervention of schools can also help address the problem of unemployment at societal level. With regard to the concern over the accuracy of prediction schools could make about students’ success, the academic staff could make assessment based on students’ past academic records and their results of different psychometric tests.

With the help and advice from the schools, students can choose majors for which they are better prepared to perform well academically and enjoy the college life.  For example, a student may want to pursue a major in computer science and get a job in IT industry. But he did not know that computer science involves a significant amount of advanced mathematics, which he did not have learned in high school. If the school managed to dissuade him from doing a degree in computer science, the student may switch to a different major, e.g. political science or psychology, which he is more likely to do well.  With better academic performance, the student would find college life more awarding and could also afford more time to get involved in extracurricular activities (ECA). The better GPA and richer experiences in ECA can then boost his chance to land a decent job upon graduation.

In addition, intervention of the schools can also help alleviate the problem of unemployment of college graduates at the societal level. In many countries such as India and China, college graduates may find it difficult to get a job after graduation due to their poor academic performance and the lack of practical skills that employers expect. If students take into consideration the advice from the schools to pursue a major that matches their talent and interest, they will become more successful in achieving good academic performance and develop skills that are useful in their future careers. Consider the student interested in studying computer science again. By doing a psychology major that suited his academic background better, he would be able to learn more from the program and become better prepared for his jobs in this area.  At societal level, if more students graduate from universities with stronger academic records and more skills, the employers would more likely find suitable candidates for their job positions.

Some people may argue that schools could not possibly predict accurately if a student would succeed in a particular field or not. Without the ability to make reliable prediction, any attempts of persuasion would be considered unethical and may lead to waste of talents. While this is a valid concern, it is important to remember that there are different ways for schools to assess the potential of students in a given field. For one thing, the schools can always review the students’ past academic records and consider their performance in related academic subjects, e.g. the performance in math of students interested in computer science. In addition, a wide range of psychometric instruments have been developed and can be used to assess if students are suitable for pursuing different majors. With the help of such tools, the schools can make prediction about students’ future performance with better confidence.

In conclusion, as the providers of educational services that receive money from parents and taxpayers, the schools have the responsibility to ensure students to benefit from the schooling maximally and produce graduates that can contribute to the economy as confident and skillful employees. Therefore, the schools should dissuade students from pursuing a major for which they are not well prepared and unlikely to succeed.

tesolchinaUID：2191404

68. A recent study reported that pet owners have longer, healthier lives on average than do people who own no pets. Specifically, dog owners tend to have a lower incidence of heart disease. In light of these findings, Sherwood Hospital should form a partnership with Sherwood Animal Shelter to institute an adopt-a-dog program. The program would encourage dog ownership for patients recovering from heart disease, which should reduce these patients' chance of experiencing continuing heart problems and also reduce their need for ongoing treatment. As a further benefit, the publicity about the program would encourage more people to adopt pets from the shelter. And that will reduce the incidence of heart disease in the general population.

Write a response in which you examine the stated and/or unstated assumptions of the argument. Be sure to explain how the argument depends on these assumptions and what the implications are for the argument if the assumptions prove unwarranted.

The author argues that the hospital should introduce the program to promote dog ownership among pateints with heart disease and the general public based on the study suggesting that pet owners tend to live long and healthy lives. A number of assumptions have been made about the effects of dog ownership in general, the consequences of adopting dogs by patients as well as how the public would respond to the program.  We need to examine such assumptions critically to decide if the argument is acceptable.

To begin with, it is assumed that dog ownership necessarily helped the people to enjoy longer and healthier lives. The study merely suggested that dog ownership is correlated with healthy and longer lives. But correlation does not necessarily imply causal relationship. Maybe pet owners (dog owners in particular) tend to have higher income and enjoy more leisure time, which mean that they will have access to better health care, healthier food and health-related amenities such as gyms. If this is the case, dog ownership is not the main reason why the dog owners enjoy better health. Promoting dog ownership would not achieve the proposed goals.

In additon, it is assumed that the patients would necessarily benefit from such a program. For one thing, we do not know if the patients would be interested in owning a dog. Maybe some of them are afraid of dogs or had unpleasant experiences with dogs in the past. For such patients, the program would not work. In addition, we do not know if the patients who join the program would get any health benefits from it. The study cited is concerned with dog owners who have lower chance of having heart disease. It does not focus on people who are recovering from the condition. Maybe the patients recovering from heart condition need more rest and would not benefit from rigourous activities such as walking a dog regularly. Also it is hard to believe the assumptiont that the program would make the ongoing treatment unnecessary. The health professionals will have to be consulted over this matter.


The author also predicts that with more publicity about the program the shelter would attract more people from the general public to adopt pets. But the assumption here is that the program would be successful and the paritcipants would say nice things about the program. Based on the discussion above, it is far from clear that the program would actually benefit the patients. If the patients do not find the program helpful, it would be unreasonable to expect them to promote the program and the media would be critical of the program.  If the publicity is negative, the shelter would not be able to have more people to adopt pets there.

The final assumption that has been implicitly made is that the patients and the general public can afford the time, the money and the space to own pets (or dogs). This issue relates back to the problem of socioeconomic class that I discussed earlier. We do not know if the patients and the general public in Sherwood would have enough money and time to own dogs. Nor do we know if their homes would have enough space to keep dogs. If Sherwood is a low-income neighborhood where people struggle to make ends meet, it would be inconceivable for them to find such adopt-a-dog program appealing.

In conclusion, a number of assumptions have been made in this argument about the adopt-a-dog program. More studies have to be conducted to investigate the issues discussed above to decide if the assumptions hold true. If not, the recommendation may not be acceptable.

tesolchinaUID：2191404

The following appeared in a letter to the editor of a Batavia newspaper.

"The department of agriculture in Batavia reports that the number of dairy farms throughout the country is now 25 percent greater than it was 10 years ago. During this same time period, however, the price of milk at the local Excello Food Market has increased from $1.50 to over $3.00 per gallon. To prevent farmers from continuing to receive excessive profits on an apparently increased supply of milk, the Batavia government should begin to regulate retail milk prices. Such regulation is necessary to ensure fair prices for consumers."

Write a response in which you discuss what questions would need to be answered in order to decide whether the recommendation is likely to have the predicted result. Be sure to explain how the answers to these questions would help to evaluate the recommendation.




According to the letter, the government should regulate the retail milk prices given the facts that there are more dairy farms in the market but the prices of milk in Excello has doubled. We need to ask a number of questions about the dairy farms nationwide, Excello Food Market, the retail milk prices and profits and the proposed government intervention in order to evaluate the recommendation.

To begin with, we need to ask why the number of dairy farms has increased and how the change affects the supply of milk. It is unreasonable to assume that the 25% increase in dairy farms would necessarily lead to the increased supply of milk. Maybe the dairy farmers have decided to reduce their farm sizes due to the changes of technologies that favor the smaller scale of production. Or perhaps more small or medium businesses join the industry and drive away some larger dairy farms out of business which increases the number of dairy farms but reduces the total production. If any of these scenarios occur, the supply of the milk would not increase as expected.  Regulating the retail milk price would not be necessary.  

We also need to ask questions about the local Excello Food Market. For one thing, to what extent is the local market representative of the overall national market? Maybe Excello has experienced inflation that is more intense than the national average and the milk prices have increased as a result. Or perhaps the transportation network is less developed here and the cost of logistics has driven up the local retail milk prices but the national milk prices remain stable.  It is not a good idea to propose any national policy merely based on a local case unless the local case can be generalized to the national market.

The third area we need to ask questions about is whether or not dairy farmers have made excessive profits that are unfair to the consumers. It is important to bear in mind that retail milk price is affected by a range of factors and the price of milk charged by dairy farmers is just part of it. Maybe the retail prices have doubled due to the increasing cost of fuel that drives up the cost of transportation, an issue we discussed briefly in the previous paragraph. Or perhaps the real estate prices of Excello has skyrocketed and the higher shop rents have led to the increase of retail prices. Also, it could be the increasing cost of cattle feeding or government taxes on dairy farms that are responsible for the increase of milk prices charged by fairy farmers. All these issues have to be taken into account before we can decide if the dairy farmers have made any excessive and unfair profits.

Finally, it is important to ask exactly how the goverment could regulate the prices and how the policies would affect the livelihood of the people.  If Batavia is a free market economy, it may not be legal or politically wise for the government to impose any regulation on the milk prices. The policy could be challenged in the court and brought the government into logal trouble. Politically, a policy that contradicts the free market principle may draw severe criticism from different fronts and render the government unpopular and ineffective. Economic theory also predicts that price regulation would lead to the shortage of the goods in the market. Given the importance of milk to people’s daily diet, we need to ask if the government really wants to bring chaos to people’s life.  

In conclusion, despite the good intention of the letter, we need to investigate this matter thoroughly to answer the questions discussed above before we could decide if the recommendation is reasonable.

tesolchinaUID：2191404

30 The following appeared as a recommendation by a committee planning a ten-year budget for the city of Calatrava.

"The birthrate in our city is declining: in fact, last year's birthrate was only one-half that of five years ago. Thus the number of students enrolled in our public schools will soon decrease dramatically, and we can safely reduce the funds budgeted for education during the next decade. At the same time, we can reduce funding for athletic playing fields and other recreational facilities. As a result, we will have sufficient money to fund city facilities and programs used primarily by adults, since we can expect the adult population of the city to increase."

Write a response in which you discuss what specific evidence is needed to evaluate the argument and explain how the evidence would weaken or strengthen the argument.

The committee recommends reducing budget for education and athletic fields in order to finance facilities and programs for adults based on the observation that the birthrate if declining and the projection that the enrollments in public schools will decrease.  We need more evidence about birthrates of the city and other demographic information, the public schools, the playing fields and the facilities and programs for adults in order to evaluate the recommendation.

FIrst of all, it is difficult to confirm that the birthrate of Calatrava has indeed declined just based on the comparion of the current year data with the data five years ago. Maybe the birth rate five years ago was unusually high due to some extraneous factors and excluding that data the birthrates have steadily increased or remain stable over the past 5 years. We need more comprehensive data about the birth rates in each year in the past 5 years to recognize the trend accurately.  

It is also immature to predict that the enrollment in public schools will drop dramatically and the need of funding for education will decrease even if the birthrates have decreased.  Maybe there would be students from other cities or even abroad who would study in the public schools here. If so, the enrollment may not decrease that much. Also, the public schools may also need money to upgrade their infrastructure and equipment or introduce new teacher training programs to improve the quality of education. The committee should gather more information about what the public schools need in the next 10 years before making any decisions about the education budgets.  

The decision to cut funding for playing fields needs to be justified with more evidence about the demand for the facilities and the cost of maintaining them.  The assumption here is that the fields are mainly for school children and with the expected decrease in enrollment, there would be no need to put more money to them.  But maybe adults also enjoy the playing fields and other recreational facilities. If this is the case, the fields and facilities would deserve additional funding.  Also, we need to take into account the maintainance and staffing cost for the fields and facilities. Funding should not be reduced if doing so would affect the normal operation of the facilities.

The committee also suggests that the money can be saved to finance programs and facilities for adults. But it is not clear on what basis it anticipates the increase of adult population in the city. It is possible that in the next 10 years some adults may choose to leave the city and reduce the demand for the facilities and programs.  In fact, if the city reduces the funding for education and children’s facilities, the families with young children may have more incentives to join other cities where better education and facilities for children are available.

Overall speaking, we need more evidence about the issues discussed above to evaluate the recommendation of the committee.  

tesolchinaUID：2191404

122)The best way to understand the character of a society is to examine the character of the men and women that the society chooses as its heroes or its role models.
Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the claim. In developing and supporting your position, be sure to address the most compelling reasons and/or examples that could be used to challenge your position.


Given the complexity of the modern society, scholars and researchers are always looking for some shortcut for better understanding the character of a society.  Some propose that one should examine the heroes and role models chosen by the society as these outstanding figures represent the society’s highest ideals.  I do not agree that heroes and role models always reflect the society’s highest ideals as many of the elite figures were selected by the government or big corporations to propagate a given set of values or ideals.  As a result, these men and women cannot serve as a realistic sample for us to understand the society.  Some people may argue that the proposed approach is the best considering its cost-effectiveness.  I would argue that in the age of big data, we can analyze the behaviors of ordinary people quantitatively at reasonable costs.  

It is often the case that heroes and role models are chosen by the powerful elite in a society according to the mainstream ideology. Consider the case of Lei Feng who was handpicked by Chairman Mao as an exemplary role model for the people in China to serve the people and the party altruistically. While many people at the time joined the “learn from Leifeng” campaign enthusiastically, in retrospect, it is clear that expecting people to be selfless is unrealistic and naive.  Only after the Chinese government recognized the pursuit of self-interest as basic human nature and reform its economic system, the Chinese economy could then realize its full potential.  As the example of Leifeng clearly illustrates, since the government may be involved in selecting or building role models, we cannot reliably understand the society and its people through studying the heroes.

In western nations, where the power of the government is limited, role models and heroes are often selected or constructed by sophisticated campaigns sponsored by big corporations. Most celebrities in movie and TV industries or competitive sports follow the similar paths.  They would first gain recognition through their outstanding performance in their respective fields and celebrated as heroes or role models by the public.  In the process, the big corporations often played an important part through its influence on the mass media.  The heroes or role models would then appear in different TV commercials and advertising as spokesmen to endorse particular products and services.  The public were made to believe that, by purchasing the products or services, they would more closely identify with the heroes or role models. Since the whole process is driven by commercial interests, it is clear that the heroes and models are more likely to reflect the values promoted by big corporations rather than the genuine preferences of the ordinary people.  

Some people may argue that, despite its limitation in validity, this proposed method is still superior to other approaches due to the relative ease of collecting data about the heroes and role models. After all, news stories and other written materials about the celebrities are abundant.  This argument would be convincing 20 years ago when the Internet was still in its infancy. But nowadays, with the ubiquitousness of social media and the resulting availability of the big data about ordinary people, it is also fairly easy to understand behaviours of ordinary people.  For example, using the latest technologies of natural language processing, one can easily analyze millions of tweets and Facebook posts generated by ordinary people on a variety of issues and have a good understanding of their opinions and feelings on these issues. By tracking the credit card transactions of people around the world, marketing companies can also understand the consumer behaviors of the society as a whole.  
  
In conclusion, as I argue cogently above, the proposed approach is not the best way to understand the character of the society as the choice of role models is often heavily influenced by the powerful political or commercial forces.  Rather, the more sensible approach is through the analysis of big data that is increasingly available through the social media.  

tesolchinaUID：2191404

guoguo100011 发表于 2015-1-25 16:47
你好，你的范文给我很大启发，那些论点和例子也都十分让人信服。然而我对于题目要求有一个疑问。题目要求 ...

64) The human mind will always be superior to machines because machines are only tools of human minds.

Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the statement and explain your reasoning for the position you take. In developing and supporting your position, you should consider ways in which the statement might or might not hold true and explain how these considerations shape your position.

题目要求中用的是or 也就是说可以全盘肯定或否定原命题 你所说的正反论述也是可以的 但必须强调在不同的具体情况下命题是否成立 不能笼统的先肯定再否定 这样容易导致自相矛盾的情况

tesolchinaUID：2191404

53. The following appeared in a health magazine.

"The citizens of Forsythe have adopted more healthful lifestyles. Their responses to a recent survey show that in their eating habits they conform more closely to government nutritional recommendations than they did ten years ago. Furthermore, there has been a fourfold increase in sales of food products containing kiran, a substance that a scientific study has shown reduces cholesterol. This trend is also evident in reduced sales of sulia, a food that few of the most healthy citizens regularly eat."

Write a response in which you discuss what specific evidence is needed to evaluate the argument and explain how the evidence would weaken or strengthen the argument.


The article makes the argument that Forsythe citizens’ lifestyles have become more healthful based on a recent survey and sales records of two types of food. To evaluate this optimistic conclusion, we need more evidence about how the survey was designed and conducted and the reasons why the sales of different food have changed.

We need more information about the survey to decide if the results can support the conclusion. For one thing, how the survey was designed and conducted would affect the reliability of the data collected. Did the survey ask the respondents about their eating habits now as well as ten years ago? For their current eating habits, did the survey designers include questions phrased in different ways to check the consistency of the respondents? For the eating habits of people ten years ago, did the survey ask the respondents to recall their eating habits or consider the data collected a decade earlier? Answers to these questions would provide evidence for us to decide if the survey itself was well-designed and could produce useful and reliable data. Another issue is the representativeness of the respondents. We need to evaluate the sampling methods of the survey critically to see if the respondents sampled can truly represent the Forsythe citizens. If the respondents were mainly from a particular socioeconomic class or age group, for example, the survey results could not be generalzed to the entire population in Forsythe.

More information is also required to understand the nature of Kiran and the reasons why the sales have increased. According to the magazine article, Kiran can help reduce cholesterol. But that does not mean the substance is necessarily healthful. Maybe it is a mood booster that can help the people to feel good but may become addictive in the long term. We need more information about Kiran to determine whether having more of this is healthful. Also, we need to consider the food products that contain kiran. Maybe the food products, in addition to having kiran, also have other unhealthy ingredients such as sugar or grease. This is related to another question: why are the food products so popular? Maybe they are popular for reasons unrelated to kiran such as the delicious taste as a result of sugar or grease or effective marketing strategies of the manufacturers and retailers. If this is the case, the data would not support the claim that Forsythe citizens are leading a more healthful life.

Similarly, we need more information about sulia and why its sales has been reduced. It is not reasonable to assess the health value of sulia simply based on the eating habits of the most healthy citizens. The citizens’s health conditions may or may not relate to their habits of eating or not eating a particular food. We need more data about why the “most healthy citizens” are so healthy to decide if it is related to not eating sulia. Of course, information about sulia itself such as its nutrition value and impact on people’s health would be very helpful. Meanwhile, it is also useful to know why the sales of sulia has declined. It could be caused by factors that are completely unrelated to people’s lifestyle and health, Maybe the sales were reduced because the change of global market that increased the price of sulia as raw materials. With the increase of the price, people would certainly buy less of the food. If this is the case, we would then need to consider the substitute of sulia that people turn to and see if the substitute is healthful or not.

Overall speaking, evaluating the healthfulness of people’s lifestyles is an important but complcated undertaking. Looking at the eating habits and the sales of particular food products is helpful but may not lead to comprehensive and reliable data that is required to make any valid conclusion. To evaluate the argument, we need more information about the survey designs, the nature of the food products and why the sales have changed.

tesolchinaUID：2191404

10) Nations should pass laws to preserve any remaining wilderness areas in their natural state, even if these areas could be developed for economic gain.
Write a response in which you discuss your views on the policy and explain your reasoning for the position you take. In developing and supporting your position, you should consider the possible consequences of implementing the policy and explain how these consequences shape your position.

Human activities since Industrial Revolution have brought enormous impact to the natural environment of the earth. The size of wilderness areas worldwide has declined dramatically over the last few centuries. It is understandable that many environmentalists call for legislation to preserve the remaining wilderness areas. I believe that such policies are not suitable for nations where people are still fighting against poverty or struggle to meet the basic demands of their citizens such as housing. On the other hand, for more developed nations, a policy focusing on conservation and sustainable development is more desirable than the proposed preservation legislation.

The preservation program would be neither sensible nor feasible in least developed countries where people suffer from poverty and other related social problems. Consider the opportunity costs of implementing such a policy. The land of the wilderness area could be used to build manufacturing factories that can provide jobs for the local people who lack the opportunities to create value via economic activities.  Development economists agree that unemployment is the root problem that causes poverty, lack of education, malnutrition and high fertility rates among women. Any policy that would exacerbate unemployment should not be implemented. In fact, it would be politically impossible for the governments to develop such preservation programs that would deprive the people of valuable job opportunities. The democratically elected government officials have to consider the consequences of introducing a massively unpopular policy.

The preservation policy is not helpful for nations or regions where the supply of land is particularly limited. Take Hong Kong as an example. Due to the grave shortage of land for housing, the people in Hong Kong have to deal with outrageously high property prices and uncomfortably small living space. The preservation policy  for wilderness areas in Hong Kong would take away the land that could have been used for housing and related infrastructure construction projects. Again such a policy would not receive public support and the government officials and the legislators have to consider the public opinions when making decisions on this issue.

Even for nations that do not have problems of poverty or housing shortage, the governments should probably consider a conservation program rather than the proposed preservation program. The difference between preservation and conservation is that the former provides absolutely no opportunities for any human activities in the wilderness areas whereas the latter policy allows development in a sustainable manner. For example, under a conservation program, the wilderness areas could be developed for low-pollution industry such as tourism.  Low-density hotels may be built in the areas to attract visitors all over the world. Efforts would be made to minimise the impact on the environment without compromising the opportunities of future generations to benefit from the resources in this area. I think conservation policies are more likely to win support of the public as it can strike a balance between the need for development and the protection of the environment.

In conclusion, for nations where poverty, unemployment or shortage of housing are major problems, the proposed policy should not be adopted for the sake of the livelihood of the citizens. Even for more developed countries, a conservation policy focusing on sustainability is more reasonable and politically sensible for the legislators.

for nations where people are fighting against poverty, this policy should not be adopted

for nations where people need more land for basic needs such as housing, this policy is not sensible

for nations which are well-developed, a conservation program rather than preservation program should be introduced

tesolchinaUID：2191404

肖攀 发表于 2015-2-1 13:46
最后的结果呢？老师，会被检索吗？

结果是会的

tesolchinaUID：2191404

低调的庆祝一下
我和HJ版主合作投的会议摘要被接收了
http://caes.hku.hk/facesofenglish/
Peer Feedback for TOEFL Writing Tests in an Online Forum
我们相信寄托的广大网友是一个努力自学英语却被英语教学研究者忽略的群体；我们依托寄托平台的科研工作将改变这一状况，希望能让广大网友受惠。  

tesolchinaUID：2191404

guoguo100011 发表于 2015-2-2 08:57
不能用其他的方式来进行吗？比如用google doc，邮件，dropbox等等。我马上要考了，还希望王老师能帮着看看 ...

你可以发Google doc和我共享 hswanghk@gmail.com

tesolchinaUID：2191404

https://bbs.gter.net/thread-1796462-1-1.html  

考试时间：11.1
AW分数：4.0
考试题目：
Issue：19. Governments should focus on solving the immediate problems of today rather than on trying to solve the anticipated problems of the future
考场上大概是这样写的：大多数情况下应该着眼于未来的问题，只关注紧急的问题可能导致将来更多问题的出现，例如只注重眼前的经济发展，忽视了未来的环境问题与社会问题（各一段）；但在特殊情况下应全力解决紧急的问题，如战争时保护人民安全是最重要的，特殊手段带来的问题可以暂不考虑。
Argument：83
大概考之前三周的时候参加了王老师的作文小组，但最后一周因为发现V实在太差了又跑回去花很多精力准备verbal了，所以真正专心准备作文的时间大概是两周。但是通过王老师的批改和意见，还是有很多收获，包括发现了自己之前思路上的盲点。如果有更多时间的话，相信会有更好的成绩。GRE写作其实是一个特别好的锻炼思维的过程，不仅是考试，对以后写论文也很有帮助。从长远来看，可以说花多少时间在这上面都不为过。不过我个人的经历是“突击”型的，以下的反思和感想也许对备考时间紧张的同学会有帮助，如果时间充裕，还是扎扎实实打好基础的好~
我认为issue的写作大概可以分成三步，按照王老师“1+3”的方法，第一步是写总起句。这一步其实很难的，但也有一些固定的思维套路可循。第二步是论证，也就是通常的举例子。第三步是用英文表达出来。
关于第一步，“分类讨论”是一个特别有用的方法。譬如像issue19，我之前的思路大概是关注当下有什么好处（或坏处），关注长远有什么好处（或坏处），所以要两者兼顾。但其实这样并没有回答题目的问题。稍微转换一下角度，就可以写成分类讨论的形式，即什么时候应该关注当下，什么时候应该考虑长远。分类讨论的思路尤其适用于没话说的时候，把一个问题分解成几个方面讲，能说的自然就多了。比较典型的是写教育类的话题，很多都可以分成自然科学、社会科学、人文学科来讨论。总起句是值得反复打磨的，基本上总起句写完了，一篇文章的结构也就确定了。王老师推荐1+3用英文写，我觉得时间紧或者基础不是很好的话，一开始1+3都用中文也可以，思路和表达其实是可以并行训练的，读得多了写得多了自然表达就提高了，刚开始可以不用在表达上花太多时间。（更重要的是，经常费了很大力气写了个自以为漂亮的总起句，但发到版上后发现思路有问题，漂亮的句子也白写了>_<）
关于第二步，之前比较习惯的举例方法就是名人事迹，但论证其实不限于举例，甚至举例也不仅限于名人事迹，这大概是我之前思维的一个盲点吧。例如教育类的话题，完全可以举身边同学的例子，只要合情合理就可以；甚至不举例子，给出理由证明分论点即可。另外有一些比较有意思的新闻也可以做例子，一是新鲜有意思，二是表达也可以借鉴原文的表达方式。例如我考试之前看到一则新闻说有人研制出了一种“营养液”，可以代替吃饭，但时间长了可能会导致牙齿的退化。就可以作为科技类的例子，对于很多有关科技发达、生活节奏快等的题目都可以用。
关于第三步，虽然很靠积累，但也有一些途径可以“迅速积累”。我之前考的雅思，比较推荐慎小嶷的《十天突破雅思写作》，里面有各个主题常用的表述可以参考，还有常用的同义词替换、高分词汇等，都是见过但自己写总是想不起来的，每种背几个，瞬间觉得写的句子也高大上了些。雅思写作也是突击准备了不到一周，后来拿到7，这本书帮助很大。另外就是在阅读时积累好的表达，推荐economist和aldaily网站上的，个人觉得aldaily比economist“好词好句”更多些。
另外推荐我用到的一些辅助工具：
1. 一个倒计时的小工具，其他帖子也提到过，王老师好像也推荐过。比较好的地方是把相似的题目做了分类，方便准备。 新G-AW倒计时练习.rar (38.88 KB, 下载次数: 0)
2. 王老师推荐过的一个语料库 需要注册，但是是免费的。好处是对于拿不准的表述可以看看有没有人用过。另外可以用来搜索动词、介词搭配，经常各种介词不知道该用哪个，参考一下搜索到的例句就比较有数了。而且结果分为学术、口语、杂志等等几类，如果发现某种表述大多出现在口语中，学术很少见，那么最好也就不要在GRE写作里使用了。
3. 大多数人大概用的是韦氏字典吧，我个人比较喜欢lingoes+牛津高阶词典，界面比韦氏更清楚，而且提供了很多固定搭配，对于特别常见的错误以及易混词还有提醒，这一点很有用~
最后非常感谢王老师组织这个小组，从中受益很多，也很期待王老师的研究结果，相信会很有现实意义。祝准备GRE的同学都能收获好的成绩~

tesolchinaUID：2191404

https://bbs.gter.net/thread-1763886-1-1.html
虽然分数一般，但还是给大家参考一下。
从寄托获得很多，十分感谢各位版主和同学。

一、背景

五年前英语六级560 三年前托福104

二、时间及分配

2014年2月-8月，在职
背单词+填空（2个月） 阅读（2个月）作文、数学、模考（2个月）

三、完成工作

单词：3000（每天）+红宝（后期弃）+magoosh 1000+Manhattan 1000（10遍）+verbal advantage（看一遍听三遍）
填空：magoosh（两遍）
阅读：吴中东（两遍+层次分析）+36套（一遍）+economics 400字文章（约200篇，阅读+回忆）+LSAT prep test 40篇
逻辑：逻辑10套
数学：OG，猴哥难题, magoosh math
模考：Manhattan 6套（V160-164,Q160-166)，PPII 2套 (V164, Q166; V157, Q169)
作文：issue 85个topic中，60个英文提纲，30篇全文练习；argument 题目过两遍，85个中文简要提纲，25个高频全文练习。


四、感想

1. 在职

在职意味着要放弃很多，包括应酬、娱乐等。
管理好时间：我的学习时间是下班后6：30-2：30。
分享一个在职备考的励志贴：https://bbs.gter.net/thread-1604684-1-1.html

2. 他人经验

向最优秀的人学习，但一般自己最多只能做到50%，那也足够。
有困难时，再看看别人的失败经验。
每个人不同，别人一个月可以，不代表你也可以，给自己充足的时间和详细的计划吧。

3. 一些谬误的纠正


1) V上160不难，随便准备一下就行。

如果你一直都是大量英文阅读，裸考都行。如果不是，就请好好准备。

2) V上160很难，有些人就是考不到。

任何人只要努力都可以的，相信自己。

为什么有人无法考到160？

时间安排不足：总是想找捷径，想快速突破。
阅读工作量不足：很多人只做36套是不行的，吴中东和economics是必须的。
自制力、注意力有待提升。

3) 阅读只需要做题就可以。

如果可以，那是因为这个人阅读量已经足够。
初期和中期做题可以提升分数，但到了V160就会发现，限制自己无法达到165的不是做题技巧，而是阅读实力。
只有大量阅读英文原文才能提升英文实力，这是我没有做到的地方。

4) Q随便准备一下都可以满分。

看看我的Q分数就知道了T_T

5) 作文随便搞搞就行了。

因人而异。
如果你想申请的项目和我一样，写明“GRE AW is very important"，那就需要悲剧得认真准备作文了。

个人认为，GRE最难的就是作文，提升非常困难。
但是，没有认真准备过AW的人，就没有完整地体会到GRE的真谛。如果你认真准备了，你才会懂我的意思。
作文的网络资源质量参差不齐，请大家谨慎对待。

任何事情，不是付出就会有回报。但是没有付出，就一定没有回报。

最后，祝大家都梦想成真。

tesolchinaUID：2191404

好久没写了  
从issue 第一道开始

1) As people rely more and more on technology to solve problems, the ability of humans to think for themselves will surely deteriorate.
Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the statement and explain your reasoning for the position you take. In developing and supporting your position, you should consider ways in which the statement might or might not hold true and explain how these considerations shape your position.

There is no doubt that modern people have become increasingly dependent on advanced technologies to solve many problems in different fields. Whether or not our abilities to think independently would deteriorate over time depends on the specific roles we play in the modern society. For people who develop the technologies to solve problems, their abilities to think will be sharpened continuously as they have to refine the technologies to meet new demands of the end users. For people who participate in the policy making regarding the use of technologies, their thinking capabilities will also improve as they are forced to ponder on the fundamental problems related to technology and society. Nevertheless, the statement may hold true for those people who do not actively seek opportunities for critical and creative thinking in this technology-driven society.  

Consider the scientists and engineers who are responsible for developing the theoretical and practical aspects of the new technologies. It is true that they also rely on technologies to solve their problems in research and product developments. But they also rely on their own thinking abilities to solve problems in their works.  For example, software engineers of mobile apps rely on the mobile programming platforms to develop the apps as the platform can help the engineers to visualize the user interface of the apps.  The computers they use can also collect and analyze the user data for the software engineers to better understand how the users behave in response to different app design decisions. But ultimately, no computer softwares can replace the engineers in solving the key problems such as how to attract more users and how to improve the quality of user experiences. If the engineers are to improve the mobile apps, they still have to think by themselves to decide how to improve the design by taking into account the data provided by different tools. Likewise, the computer scientists are challenged to optimize the algorithms used in different programs to reduce the time required to run the programs. Sophisticated computer programs such as Matlab can help the scientists to simulate different algorithms and get data on their computational performance. But the computer scientists have to think by themselves to tweet the mathematical models and develop more efficient algorithms.  

The development of new technologies also challenge those people responsible for formulating policies and rules regulating the use of technologies. The popularity of social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter presents a wide variety of social problems such as cyberbullying, hacking and privacy violation that call for the introduction of new rules and policies.  Government officials, legislators and experts in relevant fields have to work together to address these issues through developing more sophisticated policies and laws. For example, Facebook has now gathered a staggeringly large amount of data about its users in digital forms and used the data to to make profits in many different ways. To address issues like these, the policy makers will of course rely on the state-of-the-art technologies for communications such as email, video conferencing and even Facebook to collect feedback from the users and data from different sources. They may also rely on statistical software packages such as SPSS to analyze the data.  But the technologies can never make the decisions for them. They still have to think about these issues from different perspectives and come up with their own decisions. As a result, for these policy makers, this statement does not hold true, either.

The concern that reliance on technology to solving problems may lead to the deterioration of thinking abilities is more valid for the people who do not have the opportunities to think creatively and critically as a result of technological development. For example, as TVs become prevalent, people rely on this technologies for news, entertainment or even baby-sitting. As TV offers a multimedia stream of news, there is no need to read newspaper critically and make one’s own decisions. As TV episodes brings people amusement 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, people do not have to think about what to do to live a meaningful and fulfilling life.  As TV can keep the children busy and occupied for hours, parents do not need to think about how to develop interesting and creative activities for their children.  For the people who rely on TV or similar technologies to solve the problems in their daily life, they may gradually lose the abilities to develop more creative solutions through their own thinking.

Computer scientists and programmers like to say, “There are two kinds of people: those who know binary numbers and those who don’t.” Likewise, in the age of technology, there are also two kinds of people: those who think about issues related to technologies and those who let technologies to think for them. For the former, the development of technologies will stimulate them to think more and their abilities to think will grow over time. As for the latter group, their abilities to think for themselves are likely to decline as the technologies have deprived them of the opportunities to think.